“No. I’ll come out in the morning and do it before I go to work,” Amos told her as he picked her up and carried her up the deck steps.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to. If you love these animals, I need to get to know them.” He set her down. “Can you manage from here?”
“My crutches are behind the bedroom door. Can you get them for me?”
“Sure!” Amos took off at a run. By the time he got back, she’d made it to the end of the counter. “Here ya go.”
“I’ll be fine from here. I’m getting in the shower. If you get my stuff picked up before I get out, just go ahead and use the shower in the hallway bathroom.”
“Will do.” He headed outside, picked up all her things, and carried them into the house along with his own. As soon as he heard the shower start, he opened the bedroom door and laid everything on her bed, then headed back outside.
Before she finished her shower, the horse was in her stall, her water bucket had been filled, and Amos had tossed a flake of hay in her hay net. He tossed another flake out onto the ground in front of the barn, and the donkey and goat helped themselves. He hadn’t even reached the back steps before he heard a splash and turned to see two ducks in the pond, flapping and quacking, and he shook his head and smiled. That was quite the little handicapped menagerie she had, but seeing those animals helped him understand her better. She wasn’t just kind and giving to people. She wanted to help any way her help was needed.
He could hear her blow dryer going when he got out of the shower, and he was glad he’d brought a tee and some lounging pants. His beer was warm, so he poured it down the sink and got another one, then padded barefoot back toward the bedroom. The bathroom door was open, and she was leaning against the counter, bent over at the waist, drying that headful of hair. She returned his smile with an upside-down one as he walked in and dropped across her bed. “I see you got my stuff.”
He lifted his bottle in a toasting fashion and smiled. “Yep. Horse is in her stall.” She looked like she was about to say something, but he headed her off before she could. “She’s been fed and watered, and I gave the donkey and the goat some hay too.” He was trying hard to remember all their names. “Felix and …”
“Felix is the donkey. Azalea is the goat. And the horse is Ivory.” That made sense―she was white. At least she had been before she got herself mud-coated in the pond.
He grinned. “I saw some ducks too.”
“Yeah, they don’t have names. They’re just, ‘Hey, duck.’ That’s all I’ve ever called them. They showed up one day. No idea where they came from.”
“I guess they looked at the rest of your bunch out there and figured they were welcome,” Amos said and took another draw off the bottle.
“Yep. They are. I’d never turn them away.” She’d finished drying her hair and was trying to brush through it. “Gah, this is a mess.”
Amos patted the bed. “Come here and bring your brush.” When she made her way out on her crutches, she handed him her brush and sat down on the edge of the bed. Amos scooted in behind her, putting a leg on either side of her as she sat there. That was something he’d never done before, brushed a woman’s hair, and there was something rhythmically soothing about it. If it was having that effect on him, he could only imagine how it made her feel. “This is nice,” he whispered, hoping to soothe her. She’d been very upset when she’d seen the horse in the pond, and she still looked a little tense.
“It is. Feels really good.”
He kept brushing, but he wanted to lure her into a conversation. “So I bet you had a lot of boyfriends in high school.”
The snort she let out startled him. “Me? No.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that,” he scolded.
“It’s true. I had one, and he was a dick. Jeremy Blanchard. Told all his football player buddies he scored with me on our first date. Liar. Pretty soon, everybody in school thought I was a slut. I was tall and gangly and had acne, and I wore braces until graduation. High school was awful. College was better.”
“Yeah? Boyfriends in college?”
“A couple. There was one guy I was really into, but he didn’t take his studies seriously and he lost his scholarship. He was from Ohio, so he had to move back. We talked and wrote a bit, but we finally just drifted apart. What about you?”
“I’m embarrassed to say it, but I was a ‘flavor of the week’ man. Whoever walked by. I did have one girlfriend for a little while, but she wound up throwing me over for a guy who was pre-med. Said he’d be a better catch.”
Daesha laughed. “Did she marry him?”
“Nope. Last I heard of her, she was married to a mechanic and had four kids. Four. Not much of a step up, I’m afraid.”
“I’d say not! What about after college?”
“I probably would’ve stayed a ‘flavor of the week’ man, but I’ve been too busy. I love my job, but it takes up a lot of my time, and with nobody steady to come home to, there hasn’t been a reason to slow it down.”
She was silent for a full minute, and Amos wondered if she was trying to work out what she wanted to say. “So would you slow it down? I mean, if you had somebody?”
Amos stopped brushing and rested his hands on the tops of her shoulders. “Well, first of all, yes. I most definitely would. And second, I hope I’ve found somebody who would be worth it. I mean, I know she’d be worth it. I just hope she feels about me the same way I feel about her.”
Without missing a beat, she asked, “Are you the kind of guy who runs when a woman tells you how she feels about you?”
Amos let out a deep sigh. The moment of truth―it was there. “Well, I used to be, but I’m not anymore. I’ve watched everybody around me find someone, and I’ve been left in the dust. Well, except for Matt. He and Tiki … I don’t think they’re ever going to get married. On again and off again has become a way of life for them, according to Jack.”
“Yeah, I think that’s pretty much it for them.” He could hear the hesitation in her voice when she said, “I want you to know that I’m more comfortable with you than I have been with anybody in a long time.”
“Good! That’s my goal,” Amos said with a smile and started brushing her hair again.
“I feel like you accept me for who I am.”
Even though she couldn’t see him, he nodded. “I do.”
“Everything about me … Every inch of me.”
Brushing. Brushing. Keep brushing, he told himself. “Yes. Everything about you and every inch of you, warrior princess.”
“And I … I … Um, I, uh, I care for you, Amos. Is that okay?”
He dropped the brush and, with a finger under her chin, turned her head far enough that she could see him from the corner of her eye. “It’s more than okay. I care about you too, babe, and I really want to get to know you. All of you. Everything about you. You amaze me, woman. I’m like putty in your hands.” That wasn’t a lie. If she’d asked him to barbecue his own left arm and eat it, he probably would’ve gone looking for a hacksaw in her garage. Leaning around her slightly, he let his lips brush hers and was surprised when she came after them, locking herself to him. As he wrapped his arms around her, she turned sideways and put her hands on his face, her warm, soft palms pressed against his cheeks.
She broke the kiss and those green eyes searched his. He hoped she could see his feelings there, his absolute adoration of her. But her whispered words set his heart on fire. “Amos, please, make love to me? It’s been so long …”
That was the only invitation he needed. “All you have to do is say the word, beautiful.” It was true. He’d thought about how she’d feel against his palms, under him, and around him ever since the first second he’d seen her, even though he hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself. But instead of his usual swagger and braggadocio, he’d tried being himself, just plain old Amos who could be a dick sometimes but was choosing not to be.
And there they were, together. He couldn’t
remember ever wanting a woman so badly, and yet he wanted to take his time too, to enjoy being with her, and to make sure she enjoyed being with him. “Come on. Up on the bed. Need some help?”
“Nah. I’ve got it.” He watched, itching to help her but letting her do it by herself, until she was resting back on the pillows at the head of the bed. Crawling up with her, Amos knelt between her legs and took her face in his hands before he kissed her. He was surprised when he felt her tongue press against his lips and he let them part, allowing her in.
That was one helluva kiss, and he held it as he lay down beside her and pulled her against him. He hoped she could feel his hardness against her leg. As soon as he pressed his length against her, there was a hitch in her breathing, and she came back at him more ferociously. His hands took on a life of their own and the right one stroked down her neck, down her chest, and across the top of her breast until it was stopped by the hard peak at its center. His thumb and forefinger caressed it through her tee and she moaned into his mouth. “Like that, huh?” he whispered against her lips.
“Oh, yeah. Feels so good.”
“That’s what I want, to make you feel good. That’s my top goal in life.”
She giggled. “Right now anyway.”
“No. Always.” Her eyes flew open and he stared into them. “Always, warrior princess.” He grasped the bottom edge of her tee and rolled it upward until her breasts were freed into the cool air of the room, and he watched with longing as both nipples puckered into hard pebbles. “Holy hell, you’re beautiful, Daesha. So fucking beautiful.”
She sat up a bit, dragged the tee off over her head, and lay back down. It took Amos a nanosecond to suck one of those delectable morsels between his lips, and he nipped it, feeling her squirm against him. His other hand pinched, twisted, and pulled at the other bud, and every time he tugged, her hips bucked upward. God, she was responsive! In a minute or so, she giggled. “Amos?”
Lifting his head from her chest, he smiled. “Yeah?”
“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”
He let out a laugh. “You don’t have to ask me twice!” His eyes watered just a little as he watched her shimmy out of her underwear, but she kept her legs slightly crossed so he couldn’t see. That was his cue, so he stood beside the bed and slipped off his lounging pants.
Her irises pinned as she took in the sight of him standing there, his erect cock bobbing with its own pulse. “Oh my god. You’re … fine. Mmm-mmm-mmmmm. Yes.” He was about to wrap his hands around it and stroke a little when her fingers closed around it, and she took a stroke down and back up. There was no way to hold back the groan that bubbled up from his chest. “Like that?”
“Oh, yeah. What’s not to like? But you told me you’d show me yours, and you haven’t,” he pointed out.
“You wanna see mine?” she asked, her voice childlike and coy.
“Yes. I do. I wanna see it up close and personal, babe. Show me.” He waited, her hand still wrapped around his manhood, as she lay back slightly and opened her legs.
THAT’S what Nirvana looks like, Amos thought as he took in her pinkness under the tiny, neat strip of hair on her pubic mound. The heady aroma of her arousal filled the air around them, and he glanced down to see a pearly bead of pre-cum already seeping from his slit. Looking up at him from under her brows, she batted her eyelashes and pressed one finger to her mouth, her teeth locked on her nail. “Whaddya wanna do with it?” Her voice was hoarse and deep, and he wanted to taste her, to lap at her and make her squirm.
Prying her fingers from his cock, he held her hand. “I have a really simple theory. I please you. And if I do that, and I do it right, I’ll be pleased.”
She grinned. “Wouldn’t you like for me to suck it?”
“Oh, you’ll get to suck it. Once it’s soft from my first climax, you can suck it to get it hard again. But right now, you’re first.” Dropping her hand, he climbed onto the bed, spread her legs apart, and lay down, his face right there at her pussy.
God, she tasted good! Amos couldn’t get enough. Better yet, her clitoris was larger than any he’d ever seen, and sucking it in between his lips, then torturing it, was easy and fun. He circled it with his tongue, then licked at it, followed by sucking it, and then went back to circling. The feel of her fingers winding in his hair and pulling sent shivers of excitement down his spine, almost like little sparks of electricity. As he teased her, he flexed his hips and rubbed his hardness against the sheets. That was agony, because it was hard and getting harder, but it was the only relief he could get. His fingers dug into the insides of her thighs and she moaned. “Oh, god, Amos, it feels so … I don’t want to come yet. No, no. Don’t make me come yet, please? Please don’t! It feels so amazing that I … Oh, please, not yet, please? Oh, yeah. That’s so … Amos, please … Oh, god, I can’t hold back. I’m gonna, I’m, god, yeah, I, YEAH!” She turned loose, her hips thrusting, and Amos hung on, tugging and teasing her tiny hot button, holding her down with his hands on her thighs, not letting her get away and not letting up. “Amos! Oh, shit, please! I can’t … No! Oh, god, please, I, no, I can’t … OH MY GOD!” The second orgasm was stronger than the first, and when he slipped two fingers into her channel and stroked, he was rewarded with plenty of wetness. Continuing to tease her, he kept going until she was almost incoherent before he stopped.
His lips pressed to the little furry strip on her mound, he whispered against her skin, “God, baby, that was incredible. What do you want now, Daesha? Tell me, babe. What now?”
She gave one last little tug on his hair and whispered, “I need you inside me. Please?”
His. She was his. “Are you on the―”
“Condoms in the nightstand,” she said and pointed.
He chuckled. “Do this often?”
“No, but hoping to do it often after tonight.”
“Oh, yeah. I think that’s a doable thing,” he said, ripping the foil open and rolling it on. Before he pressed himself into her, he looked down at her.
Her hair was a mess, her eyelids heavy with desire, and her lips barely parted. Gazing down the length of her body, he saw everything a man could want. What he didn’t see was a crippled woman. Instead, he saw his warrior princess, the woman who had come for his heart with a mighty sword and taken it right out of his chest. He’d thought she was finally his.
But he was wrong, and he knew it. He was hers. Being hers, being with her, was all that mattered, and it wasn’t even the sex. It was the closeness, the shared space, the intimacy between them, the talking and baring of souls. God, he wanted her, but he wanted all of her, not just her body. Before he could stop himself, the words slipped out.
“I love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and for the first time ever, Amos saw his future there. “I love you too, Amos. I’ve been waiting for you and you’re finally here.”
When he drove his hardness into her, she cried out, and Amos David Fletcher had never heard anything so beautiful in his life. His hands caressed under and around her breasts, and he could honestly say he’d never seen finer tits anywhere. All the things she saw as flaws in herself only enhanced her beauty in his eyes, and he longed for a way to make her see herself the way he saw her. Pumping into her slowly, he watched as she tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and gasped with pleasure. He bent over her and kissed the side of her neck, his fingers and thumbs tweaking her nipples, and she dropped her head and kissed him again, wrapping her hands around the sides of his neck and holding him there. When he lifted her thighs and pressed them upward against her chest so his cock could reach deeper into her, his fingers wrapped over the end of her stump and he let them caress it gently.
He lasted longer than he’d thought he would, and it was primarily because he was concentrating on her and not on himself. Lasting forever would’ve been good, but he hoped he could at least bring her to climax while he was inside her. That would be amazing. Ramping up his strokes, he listened to her breathing gr
ow shallower, and he lifted her ass to give the head of his cock a better chance of rubbing her G-spot. Maybe all those women over all those years served a purpose, to leave him confident enough in his sexual abilities to not have to think about them and instead concentrate on making love. Amos wasn’t sure he’d ever made love before. If this was truly lovemaking, he was pretty sure he hadn’t, because it was so much more than anything he’d ever experienced before.
She tensed under him, and he felt the walls of her channel contract. That was his cue to speed up, and he did, stroking twice as fast as he had been. She’d started to cry out with every stroke, and he was hopeful. They were headed in the right direction, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out as his balls drew up tight and he fought the inevitable.
But there was no fighting it. It was coming, literally, and he was just along for the ride. And just before he reached that pinnacle, he felt it.
Every muscle in her sex clamped down and she screamed out, “Oh, god, Amos, fuck me!” There was no resolve left. Amos felt the skin on his cock tighten just a little more and in seconds, the condom was full as she bucked against him, her hands pressed into his pecs. He gave three or four more hard thrusts to make sure he was finished before he fell on top of her and wrapped his arms around and under her, cupping her ass cheeks.
He sighed into her hair. There was no denying it―he was in love with Daesha Wilkerson. “Oh, baby,” he whispered. “God, that was so fucking amazing.”
He felt her nod against his shoulder. “Yeah. It was. I’ve never felt like that before, Amos. I haven’t, I swear.”
“Neither have I.”
“But the ‘flavor of the week’ …”
“None of them could hold a candle to you, babe.” Rolling them to their sides, he swept a strand of hair from her face and kissed her lips lightly, then smiled. “Nobody, nobody, can hold a candle to my warrior princess.” The smile she gave him was shy and wanton at the same time, and it made his heart sing. “I love you, Daesha. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Justice for Daesha Page 8
